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NUTRO Updates Information on Puppy Food Recall

Workers hard hat was sucked into machinery, company rep says

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

October 1, 2009

The company late Wednesday posted information about the action on its Web site, which confirmed it's removing three types of puppy food off store shelves after discovering pieces of melted plastic in the “production line of select varieties of NUTRO dry dog and cat food products.”

“We identified the source as a worker’s ‘bump cap,’ similar to a hard hat, which inadvertently made its way into our manufacturing process,” the company wrote. “We immediately retrieved the affected pet food from our distributors, and only three sku’s reached retail stores."

The company added: “Based on our extensive review, it is highly unlikely that any pieces of plastic made it into finished product. However, upon learning of the incident, we voluntarily retrieved all potentially affected products.”

A Nutro customer service representative on Wednesday told ConsumerAffairs.com that a worker’s plastic hard hat was “sucked” into some of the machinery and the bags of puppy food may have plastic in them.

The representative also said the puppy food involved in this “voluntary product withdrawal” was only shipped to PETCO and PetSmart stores in Arizona and California.

But Nutro’s Web site now states the food was distributed to six other states.

The Web site also lists different UPC codes on some of the puppy foods than the ones Nutro’s representative gave ConsumerAffairs.com on Wednesday morning.

According to NUTRO’s Web site, the company is pulling the following flavors of puppy food -- shipped to PetSmart stores in California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico -- off store shelves:

• NUTRO ULTRA Puppy food for dogs, 4.5 pound bag, best buy date of 9/10/10, and a UPC of 79105 51313;

• NUTRO NATURAL CHOICE Chicken Meal, Rice and Oatmeal Formula Small Bites Puppy, 5 pound bag, best buy date of 9/10/10 and a UPC 79105 23050

Nutro also said it is pulling select 30-pound bags of NUTRO ULTRA puppy food, which were distributed to PETCO stores in California, Nevada, Hawaii, and Utah. Those bags of food have a best buy date of 9/10/10 and a UPC of 79105 51315.

Although Nutro said it found pieces of melted plastic in the production line for dry dog and cat food products, the company is not pulling any feline food off the market.

Customers who have any puppy food involved in this action can return the product to the store for a full refund or exchange, Nutro said.

For more information, pet owners can contact Nutro 1-800-833-5330.

Read more ...

• Verbatim complaints and comments from consumers.
• Recall notice

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